Category: Linguistics

  • "Prostitute," "Harlot," "Whore" – Does it Make a Difference?

    I’m sorry to disappoint you after that provocative title, but this is a translation issue.  I was reading Judges again this morning in the NJPS.  I read Judges 16.1, which is translated as follows: “Once Samson went to Gaza; there he met a whore and slept with her.”  I thought to myself that I was…

  • The Limited Usefulness of Semantic Domains for Learning Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary (Part 2)

    I should preface this second post on the limited usefulness of semantic domains for learning Biblical Hebrew vocabulary by stating that I did not always think this was the case.  In my intermediate Hebrew course, I remember having Landes as the vocabulary text and thinking it was great to see someone finally do something other…

  • Finkbeiner and Nicol on Interference

    Yesterday I posted a bibliography on the problem of interference when learning semantically related words, which I have updated this morning.  However, I know that not everyone will have access to all of those works and that not everyone will have the time to read them all.  But, I have found one of the articles…

  • Interference When Learning Semantically Related Words (A Bibliography)

    This morning I wrote a first post stating one of the reasons I believe learning semantically related items is of limited usefulness, at least early on in the learning process.  There was a bit of interest in that post with the first part of my reasoning being  called into question.  But, it may be a…

  • The Limited Usefulness of Semantic Domains for Learning Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary (Part 1)

    New related post: Interference When Learning Semantically Related Words (A Bibliography) I hope that no one takes this post as too harsh of a critique as I applaud anyone’s effort to make Biblical Hebrew instruction better.  I have noticed in two recent posts materials for learning Biblical Hebrew vocabulary that make use of semantic domains. …

  • Grice's Maxims Applied to Biblical Interpretation

    I posted shortly ago about Grice’s “Maxims of Conversation,” but I wanted to take a brief moment to say that these maxims are not only useful ideas for conversation, but also can be applied to Biblical interpretation.  Take for example the “Maxim of Manner,” which has as a sub-point “be brief (avoid unnecessary wordiness).”  One…

  • Grice's Maxims of Conversation

    Tim Bulkeley of SansBlogue has recently started a series of posts about communication (HERE, HERE, and HERE) that is worth checking out.  And, as I read the first couple of posts a lot of this information reminded me of Grice’s “Maxims of Conversation,” which I first encountered in some introductory books on linguistics, such as Cognitive…